Fankly I don't care for the ship idea at all. Hunting down that interesting blacksmith, however, has flavor and could serve as a way to buff your PCs that are havng problems instead of bringing them down a notch. Perhaps he is reclusive and lives on an island in the center of the bay, what is in the water? Does he only come out at night? What if his ritual is sinister and includes more than just salt water?

Minimal old school sub, not bad. To improve I would add some details to differentiate the sub from the movie. Some ideas might be giving the villagers something other than a stash of weapons to protect, or a different motive for the bandits to be stealing their grain.

I don't think a write up of Seven Samurai brings anything to the table that isn't put there by saying Seven Samurai, unless you were going to iron out some details, toss in some new character profiles and give some time lines for a GM to produce a fun retelling of seven samurai.

I like the idea of rallying a village to help defend it. In the TV mini-series, Pillars of the Earth (and novel, though never read it.), there is a battle of the correct scale for PCS' - the attackers are about 20 men at arms and knights attacking a small town. A small number of 'PCs' help rally the defense with a nice small scale battle.

For a twist: The villagers knew they could not win and poisoned their grain. The bandits have taken and eaten some of it, but not before selling off a great deal to various local populations. During a time of bad harvest can the PCs manage to find and stop the shipments before they are consumed? Should they cure the bandits if they come across them dying?

Kinda reminds me of russian world war two tactics. You fight the enemy or your "countrymen" will shoot you. What's to keep you here fighting for the city, though? It could be as simple a thing as they are "gaurding" your family in the local jail, but that requires a well-established character. Maybe they know something you don't yet.

Assuming a walled city, perhaps it has been surronded and only the scouts from the city guard are aware of it. With the attacking forces still a good distance away, but blocking all exits, some people may try to escape before the fighting. The city gaurd could be preventing an exodus into the brutal arms of the barbarians by forcibly inducting everyone.

What ever the reason for the gaurd's actions, the fight will soon be on. Go to Comment

This might be a very decent way to start a adventure, but it is not a adventure by a long shot. It is not even a adventure hook.
With the comment of Agar, there is a start of a adventure hook though. Go to Comment

Most PC's I have GM'd would bristle against this type of plot. It might seem like a convenient way to have an 'escape' plot or something similar, but I think there are more subtle means to accomplish this.

Honestly, just the characterization of Tymas allows this some life. Although the actual plot is a great way of getting players to hate a location, Tymas could very well develope into an NPC, fighting for the player's help in ending the pressgang-like activies of the guard.